In rural Kazakhstan, the credit and insurance services are limited and the state support is weak. The main goal of this study is to contribute to the literature on financial literacy in emerging economies, namely, the effect of financial literacy on saving rates of rural population. Being well educated not always means to be financial literate and make efficient decisions regarding one’s own finance. People with a lower formal education level but with better experience in consuming financial products could be better prepared for making financial decisions including those related to savings. In this paper other socio-economic determinants of saving rates were taken into account, such as an income level, family size and an employment status. This research was carried out in Pavlodar region of Kazakhstan, and the data collection took place in spring 2014. In total, 405 households were surveyed. Results of the analysis show that if a respondent gives at least one correct answer, it positively affects the saving rates as well as one can observe that the higher the financial literacy level, the higher are the saving rates. Availability of state supported financial education programs for rural people will significantly contribute to the financial literacy improvement.

The decreasing number of the Lithuanian residents has strong impact on the educational system: the number of pupils is decreasing, the schools are getting closed. School is considered to be the provider of educational services, so it is necessary to search, how to preserve and attract clients – pupils. The growing competition induces search for distinctiveness among the schools. According to the theory of generations of William Strauss and Neil Howe, now we have to educate representatives of generation Z, who do not like violence, restrictions, want to be distinctive and are open to the world of technologies. The teacher faces the challenge when s/he wants to convey mathematical skills to these pupils. The profile teaching followed by training based on individual curricula provided more choices for the pupils. This freedom led to the dead-end of mathematical literacy and forced to return to a compulsory national final exam of Mathematics and to change the indexes for the persons entering studies of the first cycle and integrated studies. In the article, mathematics achievements and situation in schools in Lithuania as well as the measures taken to improve mathematical literacy in the country are described.